Larivaar
is where Gurbani is written in continuous form, with no breaks in
between the words of Gurbani. Padd-Chhed is the form of many Saroops we
see today, where the Gurbani words are separated. Padd-Chhed is
respectable and so are all Gurbani pothis but Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji's
unchanged form ie. Larivaar form can be seen as most authentic as this
is what Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Guru Gobind Singh Ji and Gursikhs such as
Baba Deep Singh Ji themselves scribed Saroops of Aad Guru Granth Sahib
Ji in.
In the different schools of thought in the Sikh tradition,
each has their own form of 'Ucharan' (Speaking style) and how to do
'Padd Chhed' of Gurbani. It must be understood that where Gurbani must
be printed/written in Larivaar, the reader must do Padd Chhed (separate
the words) as they do paath. Many different scholars have had different
views about how to do Padd Chhed of Gurbani.
- See more at: http://www.discoversikhism.com/sikhism/larivaar_saroop.html#sthash.Nl6365Y6.dpuf

Lareevaar is Gurbani written in continuous form, with no breaks in between the words. Padd-Chhed is the form of many Saroops we see today, where the Gurbani words are separated with spaces. All forms of written Gurbani are worthy of worship and respect. However the original written form of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji was in the distinctive written form of Lareevaar, which was the same method of writing that Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Guru Gobind Singh Ji had Gursikhs such as Bhai Gurdaas Ji and Bhai Mani Singh Ji scribe under their authority and supervision.

Lareevaar handwritten Saroop

There are different schools of thought in Sikh tradition in regards to 'Uchaaran' (how to pronounce) and how to do 'Padd Chhed' of Gurbani. It must be understood that where Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji's saroop must be printed/written in Lareevaar, the reader has to do Padd Chhed (separate the words) as they recite the paath. Different scholars have had different views about how to do Padd Chhed of Gurbani.

'Padd-Chhed' Saroops came into the existence in the past 100 years, whereas Lareevaar has existed since the beginning of Gurbani being scribed by Guru Sahib. When Teja Singh Bhasuar made an attempt to get a printing press to make a Pad-Chhed volumes of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, he was stopped by Sikhs before it was printed. However, the printing presses caught hold of the idea and decided to use the idea. Although doing Pad-Chhed of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is much easier to read there is no guarantee that it can be read correctly. It is not sure that when the words were broken up that it was done correctly. There are various Saroops that have been done Pad-Chhed (i.e. the words have been separated) differently before the SGPC took control of printing of Guru Ji's Saroops and standardised the printing.

Version 1 of Pad Chhed: ਸਾਇਰੁ ਸੋਖਿ ਭੁਜੰਬ ਲਇਓ ||੧|| ਰਹਾਉ ||

Version 2 of Pad Chhed: ਸਾਇਰੁ ਸੋਖਿ ਭੁਜੰ ਬਲਇਓ ||੧|| ਰਹਾਉ ||

In 1945, the most prominent Sikh organisation at the time, Chief Khalsa Diwan, explored the possible positive and negative implications of printing Sri Guru Granth Sahib in Pad-Chhed format and came to the following decision:

When Guru Gobind Singh Ji conferred guruship to Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, it was in the Larreevaar form. There must be a reason why Guru Ji did not consider separating the words for the convenience of the readers. All forms of Gurbani are respectworthy and should be shown full respect and reverence, however Lareevaar Saroop should be Prakaash on the Takht in line with original Maryada of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

Sadly those that opposed Pad-Chhed printing of complete Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, ended up joining the printing presses in making money from Sikhs that did not have awareness of the importance of Lareevaar. Despite violating their own resolution and selling the public Pad-Chhed Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the SGPC kept Lareevaar Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Prakaash in the holy shrines they manage, as they knew this was the authentic Saroop given by Guru Sahib. Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji which resides in Sri Harimandir Sahib to this day, as well as all old hand written Saroops, is in Larreevaar. To this day Pad-Chhed (broken word) Saroops of the Guru are not allowed to be in Prakaash in Sri Harimandir Sahib.

1. 'Dhur Ki Bani' (the Word of Akaal Purakh) is revealed in Gurmukhi by the Sikh Gurus.

Gurbani has been written in Persian, Urdu, English, Spanish and other languages for others to access the message of Sri Guru Granth Shaib Ji, however those Pothis (scriptures) don't have Guru-status, i.e. they cannot be Prakaash on the throne of the Guru and used for an Amrit Sanchaar for example. The Saroop of Satguru Ji that sits on the Guru's throne is always in Gurmukhi script as ordained and revealed by Guru Ji. Punjabi is Pad Chhed (i.e. has broken up words when written), but Gurmukhi, the script of the Gurus, is written Larreevaar.

2. There can be many mistakes in the printing of ‘Pad-Chhed’
In spite of the hard efforts of the top modern Sikh scholars to ascertain the correct reading of the Gurbani, there are about 500-700 words where they have not been able to reach a consensus. In the past the mistake was of the reader, but with Pad-Chhed printing, the potential mistake becomes part of the Guru's Saroop.

3. Larreevaar Saroop is written by Guru Sahib Ji. There can only be one Guru.

The undeniable fact is that each of the Gurus wrote Gurbani in Lareevaar and the Saroops made by Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Guru Gobind Singh Ji were Lareevaar. Guru Sahib never made Pad-Chhed Saroop. Whether Gurbani is printed or hand-written, the Gurbani written is still the same. There is no room for divisions, differences of opinion or an individual's own thinking (ਮਤ). However, with Pad-Chhed, it requires an individual's personal understanding, which in turn is put into print. Individual's and schools of thought differ in some break up of words, therefore who is right and who is wrong. The Guru can only be one. Lareevaar text unites everyone.

4. There is a difference in the Sikhi character of today’s Granthis.

Lareevaar Gurbani can only be read with training, experience or blessings of Guru Ji, which invoked a sense of fear and respect for Gurbani. However, the modern Pad-Chhed printing of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji has made it easy for Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji to be used for making money with multiple Akhand Paaths and the hiring of readers of Gurbani that lack spiritual discipline.

5. Only the Sarbat Khalsa has the authority of making a decision on a Panthic level – not any one group or organisation.

The Pad-Chhed printing of the complete Saroop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji has not been sanctioned or passed by the Panth or Sri Akaal Takht Sahib. No one organisation or individual Sikhs can make the decision of changing Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji that sits on the throne of guruship.

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Waheguru Jee Ka Khalsa Waheguru Kee Ki Fateh!

Bhai sahib Jee! I am following you blogs for last 3-4 years. Infect, I check every Monday, to see what latest have you posted. I must admit that I don’t go to several other sites just to avoid debates about Dasam Granth and everything negative being spread around and as I am new on this path . I like the fact that you always bring positive side of our panth. However, ladivaar or non-ladivaar saroop is a panthic issue which is very similar to Rag mala debate. Bhul chuk maaf bhai sahib jee, but for the first time I thought you are being biased to show one side of the story. Even though there are multiple versions of padh-ched versions of saroops however, you can make mistakes even reading through ladivar saroop. I agree that whoever calls himself sikh must learn to read from Larivaar saroop but reading correctly is another debate.

It seems like now days, we introduce issues after issue just to stamp that the sect we belong to (church culture- I belong to this church because of …..) is following the perfect maryada. My simple understanding of why Maharaj Jee had ladivaar saroop to begin with to restrict people to add words as per their matt. As long as, there is no additional words, its fine. Just like Maharaj Jee, mentioned # of shabads in a particular raag of each Guru Sahib Jee and respected bhagats at the end of each sahbad. If you question padh-ched then you should also debate that Maharaj’s saroop should be hand written as instead of printing them as it changes the font, size and color. Please don’t make more divisions. We have enough already. Its only little bit over one year, that we have Maharaj Jee Saroop (With padh-ched and with Raagmala) parkashed and whenever we have a question for Maharaj, he answers me with his Hukum. I don’t to want to give examples here but Guru Sahib literally talks to us. Maharaj Jee get parkash every morning and we do our nitnems in MaharaJ’s hazoori. We do Kirtan every day in the evening along with our kids. We go to every Gurduara Sahib in town regardless of samparda and attend most of the smagams regardless of of samparda who is organizing it.

Bhai Sahib, your article really hurt me because I never expected this from you. From today, I am not going to visit your website to find out something positive. I am not expecting a response from you but I would like to mention that it’s your love towards Guru is going to make difference not in what state your Guru is in. Guru is complete in every state. Guru was complete when he was slapped by his father for spending 20 rupees. He was complete when he sat on burning pit. He was complete when his head was chopped off. He was complete when his kids were killed. He is forever complete. Its doesn’t matter what we come up with, he is complete. Please don’t seed doubt as we have already in last 500 years. My 8 years old son who absolutely adores Maharaj Jee and does chor and Kirtan in utmost love. I don’t want anyone to break his faith in Guru’s word. The ultimate thing is do as Guru Maharaj jee asks us to do.

Bhul Chuk Maaf! My English is not that great and I hope I am making sense in stating my point.

While it is true that there is a lot of negativity and division in the Panth today, and with all this negativity it becomes hard to further our Gursikhi Jeevan, we cannot label everything as being negative. This article brings to light a major issue in the Panth today. There is no "other side" for this issue like there are for issues like Raagmala. It is clear as night and day. When Guru Sahib gave us Guru Granth Sahib it was in Larreevar form, who are we to change that? This issue has nothing to do with any group within in the Panth, all major groups accept that Larreevar is the original version of SGGS and that Larreevar should be Parkash on Takhat Sahib.

Your logic of Guru Sahib using Larreevar to ensure no extra words are added to Gurbani does not make any sense. So many extra words have been added into Gurbani. Not just at the end of SGGS but even in the middle. There are Saroops with extra compositions in Ramkali Raag. Without making this too much of a debate, this isn't causing any divisions in the Panth. If tomorrow someone came to your house and told you that he is now your father and your real father is no longer your father what would you do? Would you accept this new person as your father because you don't want to start a fight? We cannot give up on such things just because we do not want to start a fight. What if Gursikhs had just surrendered when the Indian Army attacked Darbar Sahib because they did not want to cause any fights? There are some things that we need to fight for and this is one of them. You have agreed that Larreevar is important and we should learn to read from Larreevar. This is article is not creating any divisions, in fact it will help Gursikhs improve their Jeevans and will help the Panth get to Chardi Kala. Bhai Manvir Singh has not used any negative terms for pad chhed and he has not told us to get rid of pad chhed in a violent way, he is educating us and slowly over time with more and more education the Panth can slowly grow into a state of Chardi Kala. In order for us to have Chardi Kala in the Panth though, we need to follow what Guru Sahib told us to follow.

At the end of the day it all come down to this, it is undeniable that Guru Gobind Singh gave Gurta Gaddi to Larreevar Saroop. NO ONE can deny this. No one has ever attempted to deny this. Pad Chhed has only been around for the last 80 years or so. If we go back to what Guru Sahib gave to us (Larreevar) then the Panth will only grow in Chardi Kala.

Thank your for emailing your thoughts and comments. I understand your feelings and sentiments. However, I have not intended to cause controversy, hurt anyone's feelings, or spread negativity.

The issue of the decline of Lareevaar and the emergance of Pad-Chhed is not controversial to my understanding, unlike Raagmala or other issues, because all scholars, schools of thought and Jathas agree that Lareevaar is the original form of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji's Saroop, that this was the way of writing sanctioned and used by Guru Sahib, and that Pad-Chhed is a modern invention which although is a useful aid for readers to aim to read Gurbani correctly, it has some flaws that there are above 700 discrepancies in doing Pad-Chhed.

The aim of the article was to promote Lareevaar, the original form of Satguru Ji's Saroop, which actually unites all Sikhs, rather than divides.

I don't believe it is wrong to do Matha Tekh or Chaur Sahib over Pad-Chhed Saroop, as Bani is Guru. If the article gave that impression I apologise and have gone over article to see if any lines in the article possibly gave that impression. However, it is an issue of preserving tradition, preserving Gurbani's original form and obeying Guru Ji's Hukam.

The issue of hand-writing Gurbani or printing Gurbani, I personally don't think compares to Lareevaar and Pad-Chhed. Whether Gurbani is printed or hand-written, the Gurbani written is still the same. There is no room for divisions, difference of opinion or personal understanding required. However, with Pad-Chhed, it requires an individual's personal "mat" (understanding), which can differ to anothers.

Original:ਏਤੇਕੂਕਰਹਉਬੇਗਾਨਾਭਉਕਾਇਸੁਤਨਤਾਈ ||

Pad-Chhed understanding one:ਏਤੇ ਕੂਕਰ ਹਉ ਬੇਗਾਨਾ ਭਉਕਾ ਇਸੁ ਤਨ ਤਾਈ ||

Pad-Chhed understanding two:ਏਤੇ ਕੂਕ ਰਹਉ ਬੇਗਾਨਾ ਭਉਕਾ ਇਸੁ ਤਨ ਤਾਈ ||

Now, Lareevaar unites us, rather than divides us. Who can claim that they definitively knows that Guru Maharaaj said "Kookar hau" or "Kook Raho". Both give a meaning, however, the reader takes what he or she gets from Guru Ji. But doing Pad-Chhed of the Saroop of Guru Granth Sahib Ji that sits on the Takht can be so serious that includes human intervention and understanding rather than Divine.

If we ignore this and carry on, in the future no Gurdwara will have Lareevaar Prakaash. Already, it is difficult to find Maharaaj's Lareevar Saroops in mainstream Sangat. Awareness has changed things. Now some Gurdwaras in UK, in particular Bradford, have Lareevaar Prakaash. In Canada many Gurdwaras now have Lareevaar Prakaash etc as a result of awareness and understanding the serious scandal of the SGPC in selling Pad-Chhed complete Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji when they themselves believed and passed that it is detrimental to the Panth.

Speaking to ex-Jathedar, Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, he said Lareevaar Saroop is vital and should be only Prakaash on Takht of Guru, but he also said he believes Pad-Chhed of Gurbani in form of Gutkas, pothis, books or devices is importance for us to know where to put spaces and help to pronounce. He said it can be aid but the actual Saroop of Satguru Ji should not be changed by humans.

I hope this has cleared things. May Satguru Ji bless us all with Gurmat and pyaar.

I really appreciate your response and it cleared lots of things for me. After sending my message, I also retrospect my thoughts where I found that we are actually moving away from the originality and reality. I apologize from the core of my heart if I said anything which was inappropriate. As I mentioned before, that I recently started walking on this path and I am naïve in lot of things. However, our samrath Guru is always there to guide us and connect us to correct sources. We discussed this in our family as well where my 8 years old son asked question “Why are we making so many saroops of Guru Maharaj Jee without any control?” With this response, I take my words back. My response was based on my own experience with some people whom I don’t want to mention here. I was wrong to put you in the same scanner. May Guru Maharaj Jee make this insect his Sikh to eradicate these impurities!

'Kookar hau' or 'kook rahu' - your comment that who knows what the Guru said is worrying. We ought to know what the Guru said there and if we don't know then we need to have a team of top scholars working on it. Otherwise, how do we know what we are reading? Are we just leaving it to the reader of the larrivar beerh? They might be making the mistake? I'm assuming the pad cheed beerh was organised by scholars. If not, we need to get the most educated linguists and Gianis onto it - we need to know the meaning of every single word in Gurbani, otherwise we don't know what we are reading and will become the laughing stock of religions. Scholars can explain the meaning of every word in the Hebrew Bible, Arabic Quran and Sanskrit Gita.

In extending the discussion and points raised here , perhaps all the gutkas should also have been written in ladivar saroop. This would have helped the masses get acquainted with reciting bani in this form.